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WVMT (620 AM) is a
commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...
radio station licensed to
Burlington, Vermont Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is the List of municipalities in Vermont, most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the county seat, seat of Chittenden County, Vermont, Chittenden County. It is located south of the Can ...
, and serving the Champlain Valley of
Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...
and New York. WVMT is
simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...
on
FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...
station W242BK at 96.3
MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...
. The translator's owner, Vox AM/FM, LLC, operates WVMT under a
local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...
(LMA). The radio studios and offices are within Fort Ethan Allen in
Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...
, with Vox's other stations. WVMT’s transmitter power is 5,000 watts, as a Class B station, using a
directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...
with slightly different daytime and nighttime directional patterns in order to protect other stations on the AM 620 frequency, principally, WTMJ in
Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...
. Its daytime signal covers most of Northern Vermont, Northeastern New York and part of
Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
, Canada. At night, the station adjusts its coverage to concentrate the signal around the Burlington and
Plattsburgh, New York Plattsburgh is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County, New York, United States, situated on the north-western shore of Lake Champlain. The population was 19,841 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. The population of the sur ...
, areas. WVMT's easily identifiable three-
tower array A tower array is an arrangement of multiple radio towers which are mast radiators in a phased array. They were originally developed as ground-based tracking radars. Tower arrays can consist of free-standing or guyed towers or a mix of them. Tower ...
is shown on
Lake Champlain Lake Champlain ( ; , ) is a natural freshwater lake in North America. It mostly lies between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and Vermont, but also extends north into the Canadian province of Quebec. The cities of Burlington, Ve ...
navigation charts, located in Colchester, near Malletts Bay.


Programming

Weekdays begin with a local news and information show, ''The Morning Drive'', hosted by Kurt Wright and Anthony Neary. The rest of the weekday schedule is made up of nationally syndicated shows, Brian Kilmeade, Jimmy Failla, Howie Carr '' The Ramsey Show with Dave Ramsey'', and '' Coast to Coast AM'' with
George Noory George Ralph Noory (born June 4, 1950) is an American talk radio, radio talk show host. Since January 2003, Noory has been the weekday host of the late-night radio talk show ''Coast to Coast AM''. The program is radio syndication, syndicated to ...
.
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
-based Howie Carr is heard on weekday afternoons. Weekends feature shows on money, health, home repair, cars, pets, law, dining, wine and beer. Weekend syndicated shows include
Glenn Beck Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...
, '' At Home with Gary Sullivan'', '' Bill Handel on the Law'', '' The Pet Show with Warren Eckstein'', '' Leo Laporte, The Tech Guy'', ''Ron Annanian, The Car Doctor'' and '' Somewhere in Time with Art Bell''. Bruce Newbury hosts the "Food Dude" show along with The Bruce Newbury talk show. WVMT carries UVM Men's Hockey and Women's Basketball. Most hours begin with
ABC News Radio ABC News Radio is the news radio service of ABC Audio, a division of ABC News (United States), ABC News in the United States. Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Skyview Networks, five-minute newscasts on the hour ...
.


History


University of Vermont

WVMT is the oldest radio station in Vermont. It began test transmissions on May 20, 1922. The
call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...
was WCAX, and it was owned by the
University of Vermont The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...
(UVM). In its early years, WCAX largely operated on an experimental basis, and it was not until October 10, 1924, that the station formally signed on. WCAX was run by UVM students and faculty. Most of its programming consisting of farming information from the University's Extension Service. Some reports say the
call letters In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a Identifier, unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be fo ...
stood for "College of Agriculture Extension" in recognition of this service. The station's license was granted, and the call letters assigned, on May 13, 1922. That assignment was around the same time as WCAU (now
WPHT WPHT (1210 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station broadcasts a talk radio radio format, format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. Its studios are in Audacy's corporate headquarters on Market Stree ...
) in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
and WCAY (now WTMJ) in Milwaukee, an indication that the call letters were randomly assigned from a sequential list of available call signs. Initially operating at 833 kHz (as most stations did at that time). It moved to 1200 kHz by 1925, to 1190 kHz in 1926, to 1180 kHz in 1927, and then back to 1200 in November 1928.


Burlington Daily News

By 1931, the University of Vermont did not have the funds to continue its operation of WCAX, largely due to the need to purchase newer equipment required by the
Federal Radio Commission The Federal Radio Commission (FRC) was a government agency that regulated United States radio communication from its creation in 1927 until 1934, when it was succeeded by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FRC was established by ...
. On June 17, it sold the station to the ''Burlington Daily News''. At that time, the newspaper was controlled by Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson, the first person to drive across the country in a motor car. The ''Daily News'' relaunched WCAX as a commercial station on November 4, 1931. However, under the terms of the sale, UVM continued to broadcast its programming on the station. On August 19, 1937, the station's
tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...
was struck by lightning during a severe storm. Charles Hasbrook bought WCAX and the ''Burlington Daily News'' in 1939. The following year, the station joined the CBS Radio Network. WCAX carried CBS dramas, comedies, news, sports, game shows, soap operas and
big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...
broadcasts during the " Golden Age of Radio". The
North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement The North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA, ; ) refers to a series of international treaties that defined technical standards for AM band (mediumwave) radio stations. These agreements also addressed how frequency assignments were d ...
(NARBA) required the station to move to 1230 kilocycles in 1941. The following year, WCAX moved to its current frequency, 620 kHz. Also in 1941, the ''Daily News'' was sold off. But Hasbrook retained the station through the WCAX Broadcasting Corporation. (The 1230 frequency is now occupied by
WJOY WJOY (1230 Hertz, kHz) is a commercial AM broadcasting, AM radio station broadcasting an adult standards and soft adult contemporary Radio format, format. City of license, Licensed to Burlington, Vermont, the station is owned by Hall Communicati ...
).


Television station

A television station, Channel 3 WMVT, was launched on September 26, 1954. It was renamed WCAX-TV two years later. By 1960, WCAX Radio had switched from CBS to NBC Radio, even though WCAX-TV 3 remains a CBS TV
network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...
. The two stations maintained one of Vermont's largest broadcast news departments.


WVMT

In 1963, Hasbrook sold WCAX to James Broadcasting, a company controlled by Simon Goldman, that also owned WJTN in
Jamestown, New York Jamestown is a city in southern Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 28,712 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Situated between Lake Erie to the north and the Allegheny National Forest to the south, Jamesto ...
. The call letters for 620 AM were changed to WVMT. (The previous call letters remain on WCAX-TV, which, until 2017; was owned by the family of Hasbrook's stepson, Stuart T. Martin Jr.) From the 1960s through the 1980s, WVMT had a middle-of-the-road music format. The station had placed more of an emphasis on
oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...
by 1980, but largely remained middle-of-the-road. By 1984, the station had shifted to an
adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...
format. A few years later, in 1986, it also incorporated some oldies titles. WVMT gained an FM
sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
in 1990, when James Broadcasting purchased
top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...
outlet 95.5
WXXX WXXX (95.5 FM, ''95 Triple X'') is a commercial radio station licensed to South Burlington, Vermont, and serving the Champlain Valley. The station is owned by Sison Broadcasting, and airs a top 40–contemporary hit radio format. WXXX's studios ...
from Atlantic Ventures. By 1994, WVMT had shifted its music programming entirely to oldies, and had also incorporated some talk shows. By 1999, the station had formally moved to an all-talk format. Paul Goldman's company, Sison Broadcasting, purchased WVMT and WXXX in 1997. In October 2018, the sale of WVMT and WXXX to Vox AM/FM LLC was announced, pending FCC approval. Vox took over the stations under a
local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...
(LMA) on January 1, 2019.Vox AM/FM Acquires WVMT/WXXX Burlington VT
Lance Venta, RadioInsight, October 15, 2018
No FCC application was filed, and the stations remain in the hands of Sison Broadcasting.


Translator


See also

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List of initial AM-band station grants in the United States List of initial AM-band station grants in the United States reviews the first standard radio broadcasting stations that were authorized in the United States. This review begins with the introduction of the broadcasting service in the United S ...


References


External links

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Bing Bird's Eye View of Towers
{{News/Talk Radio Stations in Vermont 1922 establishments in Vermont News and talk radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1922 VMT